Discussions and reflections--both popular and academic--on the necessity of creating an African Union government. Can Africa Unite?
"If not now, then when? If not here, then where? If not by us, then who?"

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Of 9th, 11th, and 21st September,
or Unleashing the AU-frican Lion to the World

By E.K.Bensah Jr

I am not surprised much of the
Ghanaian media missed it; I could not have expected anything less. It was
always going to be obvious that they would remember the much-publicised 10th
anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the US and be totally oblivious to
developments on the continent. If we had a media more sensitized to what was
going on in Africa and its regional economic communities, we might have had
more column inches on one major anniversary and a conference that ended on that
all-important anniversary.

9th September is “Sirte Declaration Day”…

The all-important anniversary is
that of 9th September. This day is ineluctably etched in African
integration history as a day when the Sirte Declaration was mooted in Libya.
The significance of this declaration has to do with the fact that it is the
resolution adopted by the-then Organisation
of African Unity on 9 September 1999, at the fourth Extraordinary Session
of the OAU Assembly of African Heads of State and Government held at Sirte, Libya. Policy-makers and
aficionados of African unity remember Sirte to be blazing the trail on where
Africa needs to go. If we can remember the importance of the Abuja Treaty of
1991 setting the blueprint for continental integration, then we can accept
Sirte to be the engine for that integration. With it, three major things
happened.

Also unbeknownst to the Ghanaian
media was the highly-important fifth edition of the Conference of African Ministers
of Integration (COMAI V). Held in Kenya from 5-9 September, the
objective of the meeting was three-fold: to consider the report of the “Status
of Integration in Africa 2011”; and a report on the “implementation of
Recommendations from COMAI IV”; and review a study on “the quantification of
scenarios of rationalization of RECs”.

Simply put, the rationalization
of RECs refers to AU member states deciding to stick to one regional economic
community – instead of the two or three some of them belong to. Policy-makers
at the UNECA and AU Commission see this as pivotal to achieving the African
Economic Community by 2034. Of equal importance, also, is the Continental
Integration Fund for supporting the UNECA-sponsored “Minimum Integration
Programme” that will help RECs deliver on harmonization of programmes
consistent with the Abuja Treaty. On that, the African Development Bank is
ready to support ways of resourcing this facility that will complement existing
alternative financing mechanisms identified by the AU for unity.

Truth be told, if there is
anything we can say about 9 September, it is that it is the veritable “African
union” day. That the unfortunate events of9/11 took place two days after
one of the most important and significant events of African integration is
perhaps a harbinger/metaphor of how African integration was doomed to run on
the back of the so-called War on Terror.

Terrorism, 9/11, and 21 September

Not that this does not matter,
but in Africa, the almost over-kill of September 11 is only as poignant as
African countries choose to make it. Few can forget that East Africa
experienced a spate of terrorist attacks during the “War on Terror” decade. It
is also regrettable that the decade would “close” with attacks in West Africa
with the bombing of the UN building in Abuja allegedly by Boko Haram. But can
we honestly say that a 30-member “Global Counterterrorism Forum”—comprising the
AU member countries of Nigeria; South Africa; Egypt; Algeria; and Mauritania –
would be the solution to countering violent extremism in the problem of the
Sahel; Horn of Africa; and South East Asia. To have Algeria in that group is
encouraging as that country has given vent to what observers of the AU in some
quarters call the “maghrebization of peace and security” of the AU.

I take issue not so much with the
fact that this is an initiative of the Obama administration, but that the UN,
regional and sub-regional bodies “would be invited to participate in the
appropriate working group and their activities”. As to why they are not a
permanent feature remains unclear. In the long run, this forum will be
inaugurated on 21 September on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New
York.

Conclusion

I have no illusions that most of
what I write here will be read by a minority of Ghanaians at best, minority of
Africans at worst, and inculcated in a way that will help them make
viscerally-life-changing decisions about what they can do to help the AU and
ECOWAS deliver for citizens.

What I do know is that someone
somewhere will take note and seek to educate themselves about the AU and ECOWAS
–despite the absolutely egregious manner in which these two organizations
project themselves to African citizens.

What I also know is that until
Ghanaians begin to lose themselves to the rhythm of the African integration
march, they will consign their progeny to an inexcusable fate they could have
avoided. African integration will not work without a concerted effort by
all—citizens and especially media alike—holding the policy-makers of these
groupings accountable.

Much of the time, citizens are
keen to work for them because of the good money that is offered, forgetting
that the benefits and good salary are the bonus of hard work in helping make a
contribution towards the betterment of generations unborn.

As I write this in the aftermath
of another successful GJA Media Awards, I cannot help but also bow my head down
in shame on how despite the centrality of Ghana in African integration—thanks
to Dr. Kwame Nkrumah—Ghanaian media practitioners seem to be waiting for some
external actor to sponsor an AU reporting award before they start writing about
the AU or ECOWAS! Where is civil society on this issue? Where, indeed, are the
media practitioners who need to be asking why such an award is not part of the
categories?

Ghana is much more than the
politicking of the NPP and NDC, and I daresay we do not have to wait for the
CPP to emerge as a fully-fledged third force before we start talking, and
taking seriously what the AU and ECOWAS do. The triple responsibility that
Ghanaians bear of being citizens of Ghana, ECOWAS community citizens and AUfrican
citizens ought to awaken them to the imperative and necessity of capitalizing
on both the months of May and September
to give vent to the AUfrican personality the continent so desperately needs.

ekbensah AT critiquing-regionalism.org

In
2009, in his capacity as a “Do More Talk Less Ambassador” of the 42nd
Generation—an NGO that promotes and discusses Pan-Africanism--Emmanuel gave a series of lectures on the
role of ECOWAS and the AU in facilitating a Pan-African identity. Emmanuel
owns "Critiquing Regionalism" (http://www.critiquing-regionalism.org). Established in 2004 as an initiative
to respond to the dearth of knowledge on global regional integration
initiatives worldwide, this non-profit blog features regional integration
initiatives on MERCOSUR/EU/Africa/Asia and many others. You can reach him on ekbensah@ekbensah.net / Mobile: 0268.687.653.